U.S. and the World

If Obama can't close it, his successor likely won't. Donald Trump has not only pledged to keep Guantanamo open, in April he said that "we're gonna load it up with some bad dudes, believe me. We're gonna load it up." He also said he'd try U.S. citizens accused of terrorism at the base, though that would require Congress to change federal law. Obama "knows what's at stake and he knows he can't leave the door to Guantanamo open for Donald Trump," said Amnesty Intl's Naureen Shah. read more

U.S. military and CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing detainees in Afghanistan, the Court's chief prosecutor said, suggesting that American citizens could be indicted. "Members of US armed forces appear to have subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity..." said the report. And that CIA operatives may have subjected 27 detainees in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania to the same, as well as rape. read more

Almost unnoticed outside defense circles, the Pentagon has put artificial intelligence at the center of its strategy to maintain the U.S.’ position as the world’s dominant military power. It is spending billions of dollars to develop autonomous and semiautonomous weapons and to build an arsenal stocked with the kind of weaponry that until now has existed only in Hollywood movies and science fiction, raising alarm among scientists and activists concerned by the implications of a robot arms race. read more

Khan said the Afghan government seized his lands after he was captured, and a ruling that he was innocent might help him get the deeds back. He also said that because of his past, he could not obtain a passport, which he needed to travel to a medical clinic in India for treatment for hearing loss he suffered as a result of “loud blaring music” used “during interrogations, mostly at CIA facilities before” Guantánamo. “This injury is not redressable by a federal court," wrote the judge. read more

British American Tobacco has offered to buy out Reynolds American for $47 billion in an attempt to gain a strong presence in the U.S., a lucrative market where sales of e-cigarettes are booming. The takeover would create the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company and combine BAT's presence in developing countries with Reynolds' almost exclusive focus on the U.S. "If vapor accelerates as we expect, then the U.S. is the place to be," said equity analyst Owen Bennett. read more

More than 600 U.N. staff members have signed an online petition that says “a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots” is not an appropriate spokeswoman for gender equity at the United Nations. Women’s advocates inside and outside the U.N. say the selection of Wonder Woman is particularly ill timed because the U.N. this month rejected seven female candidates for secretary-general. read more

Molins said there are tech firms to whom they don't send requests anymore since "we know in advance we will not get any answer." The four prosecutors insisted that having access to personal phone and computer data would help not only prevent attacks, but also protect vulnerable people and teenagers. "We are now often facing young people who...radicalize alone behind their computers without their family and entourage being able to do something," said Belgian prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw. read more

The question is whether the military commissions can prosecute additional terrorism defendants for conspiracy. That charge is useful for trying people suspected of participating in a terrorist group. But while conspiracy is considered a crime under U.S. law, it is not a war crime by international law. “There is still no resolution of this basic constitutional question...” said professor Vladeck. “The court let this one conviction stand, but in the process, it didn’t actually settle the fight.” read more

The rising number of Syrian refugee students comes amid a heated presidential campaign. Trump called Clinton's plan to expand the refugee program and accept 65,000 Syrian refugees the "great Trojan horse of all time." Nearly 30 states have vowed to deny entry to Syrian refugees. Resettlement agencies worry inflamed rhetoric about refugees will trickle into the classroom. One report found 50% of Muslim students surveyed were subjected to mean comments because of their religion. read more

Election day in the U.S. cannot come soon enough for the Mexican peso, especially if Hillary Clinton is the winner. The peso reached its low point for the year shortly after Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia. But it has recovered ground from that low amid the feeling that Clinton outperformed Trump in three presidential debates. Trump has hammered Mexico not only for illegal immigration, but also for U.S. jobs lost. Not to mention Trump's threats to make Mexico pay for the border wall. read more

The board took note of a strong support network for Slahi, and a letter from a former prison guard in favor of his release. "Before my assignment to Guantánamo, I had heard that the men I would be guarding were the worst of the worst and that they would likely hate me and everything the United States and I stood for," the letter said. "I expected to find angry and brutal men. In no way did I experience that with Mohamedou." The anonymous guard said he would welcome Slahi into his home. read more

"They are not pieces of art. They are spiritual objects deeply important for tribal identity," Udall said. "Theft not only robs the tribes of a sacred object, it robs them of a piece of their spiritual identity." The Paris auctions have presented a diplomatic dilemma for years between the U.S. and France. EVE auction house in Paris halted one sale after facing immense pressure from top U.S. officials — including Interior Secretary Sally Jewell — who produced evidence of its theft. read more

In a sweeping accord reached on Saturday in Rwanda, companies including Honeywell and DuPont were among the most active backers of a move away from a profitable chemical. The firms were driven less by idealism than by intense competition,. Some environmentalists say the move provides a template for other industries to follow. The chemical industry’s response stands in stark contrast to the foot-dragging, and in many cases the outright obstruction of climate regulations, by the big oil companies. read more

The lawsuit challenges the FBI's preposterous claim that U.S. intelligence preceding the war in Iraq is not a matter of public interest. The Times said Hage met with an adviser to Pentagon officials and laid out Iraq's position that it did not have weapons of mass destruction and that it would consent to an investigation and search by U.S. troops. Hage said that ''the Iraqis were finally taking [U.S. invasion] seriously and they wanted to talk." The U.S. invaded Iraq anyway. read more

Today in Slovakia, Hussein al-Marfadi describes permanent headaches and disturbed sleep, plagued by memories of dogs inside a blackened jail. In Kazakhstan, Lutfi bin Ali is haunted by nightmares of suffocating at the bottom of a well. In Libya, the radio from a passing car spurs rage in Majid Mokhtar Sasy al-Maghrebi, reminding him of the CIA prison where earsplitting music was just one assault to his senses. And then there is the despair of men who say they are no longer themselves. read more

Its founder president, Ashok Chauhan, was charged with fraud in the 1990s by authorities in Germany, where he ran a network of companies. He returned to India and was never extradited. A plastics company in the U.S. also sued Chauhan in 1995 for failing to pay $20 million in debts. "They are a subsidiary of a conglomerate of companies," said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of State College and Universities. "This is by no means reassuring, if you ask me." read more

U.S. and the World

If Obama can't close it, his successor likely won't. Donald Trump has not only pledged to keep Guantanamo open, in April he said that "we're gonna load it up with some bad dudes, believe me. We're gonna load it up." He also said he'd try U.S. citizens accused of terrorism at the base, though that would require Congress to change federal law. Obama "knows what's at stake and he knows he can't leave the door to Guantanamo open for Donald Trump," said Amnesty Intl's Naureen Shah. read more

U.S. military and CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing detainees in Afghanistan, the Court's chief prosecutor said, suggesting that American citizens could be indicted. "Members of US armed forces appear to have subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity..." said the report. And that CIA operatives may have subjected 27 detainees in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania to the same, as well as rape. read more

Almost unnoticed outside defense circles, the Pentagon has put artificial intelligence at the center of its strategy to maintain the U.S.’ position as the world’s dominant military power. It is spending billions of dollars to develop autonomous and semiautonomous weapons and to build an arsenal stocked with the kind of weaponry that until now has existed only in Hollywood movies and science fiction, raising alarm among scientists and activists concerned by the implications of a robot arms race. read more

Khan said the Afghan government seized his lands after he was captured, and a ruling that he was innocent might help him get the deeds back. He also said that because of his past, he could not obtain a passport, which he needed to travel to a medical clinic in India for treatment for hearing loss he suffered as a result of “loud blaring music” used “during interrogations, mostly at CIA facilities before” Guantánamo. “This injury is not redressable by a federal court," wrote the judge. read more

British American Tobacco has offered to buy out Reynolds American for $47 billion in an attempt to gain a strong presence in the U.S., a lucrative market where sales of e-cigarettes are booming. The takeover would create the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company and combine BAT's presence in developing countries with Reynolds' almost exclusive focus on the U.S. "If vapor accelerates as we expect, then the U.S. is the place to be," said equity analyst Owen Bennett. read more

More than 600 U.N. staff members have signed an online petition that says “a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots” is not an appropriate spokeswoman for gender equity at the United Nations. Women’s advocates inside and outside the U.N. say the selection of Wonder Woman is particularly ill timed because the U.N. this month rejected seven female candidates for secretary-general. read more

Molins said there are tech firms to whom they don't send requests anymore since "we know in advance we will not get any answer." The four prosecutors insisted that having access to personal phone and computer data would help not only prevent attacks, but also protect vulnerable people and teenagers. "We are now often facing young people who...radicalize alone behind their computers without their family and entourage being able to do something," said Belgian prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw. read more

The question is whether the military commissions can prosecute additional terrorism defendants for conspiracy. That charge is useful for trying people suspected of participating in a terrorist group. But while conspiracy is considered a crime under U.S. law, it is not a war crime by international law. “There is still no resolution of this basic constitutional question...” said professor Vladeck. “The court let this one conviction stand, but in the process, it didn’t actually settle the fight.” read more

The rising number of Syrian refugee students comes amid a heated presidential campaign. Trump called Clinton's plan to expand the refugee program and accept 65,000 Syrian refugees the "great Trojan horse of all time." Nearly 30 states have vowed to deny entry to Syrian refugees. Resettlement agencies worry inflamed rhetoric about refugees will trickle into the classroom. One report found 50% of Muslim students surveyed were subjected to mean comments because of their religion. read more

Election day in the U.S. cannot come soon enough for the Mexican peso, especially if Hillary Clinton is the winner. The peso reached its low point for the year shortly after Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia. But it has recovered ground from that low amid the feeling that Clinton outperformed Trump in three presidential debates. Trump has hammered Mexico not only for illegal immigration, but also for U.S. jobs lost. Not to mention Trump's threats to make Mexico pay for the border wall. read more

The board took note of a strong support network for Slahi, and a letter from a former prison guard in favor of his release. "Before my assignment to Guantánamo, I had heard that the men I would be guarding were the worst of the worst and that they would likely hate me and everything the United States and I stood for," the letter said. "I expected to find angry and brutal men. In no way did I experience that with Mohamedou." The anonymous guard said he would welcome Slahi into his home. read more

"They are not pieces of art. They are spiritual objects deeply important for tribal identity," Udall said. "Theft not only robs the tribes of a sacred object, it robs them of a piece of their spiritual identity." The Paris auctions have presented a diplomatic dilemma for years between the U.S. and France. EVE auction house in Paris halted one sale after facing immense pressure from top U.S. officials — including Interior Secretary Sally Jewell — who produced evidence of its theft. read more

In a sweeping accord reached on Saturday in Rwanda, companies including Honeywell and DuPont were among the most active backers of a move away from a profitable chemical. The firms were driven less by idealism than by intense competition,. Some environmentalists say the move provides a template for other industries to follow. The chemical industry’s response stands in stark contrast to the foot-dragging, and in many cases the outright obstruction of climate regulations, by the big oil companies. read more

The lawsuit challenges the FBI's preposterous claim that U.S. intelligence preceding the war in Iraq is not a matter of public interest. The Times said Hage met with an adviser to Pentagon officials and laid out Iraq's position that it did not have weapons of mass destruction and that it would consent to an investigation and search by U.S. troops. Hage said that ''the Iraqis were finally taking [U.S. invasion] seriously and they wanted to talk." The U.S. invaded Iraq anyway. read more

Today in Slovakia, Hussein al-Marfadi describes permanent headaches and disturbed sleep, plagued by memories of dogs inside a blackened jail. In Kazakhstan, Lutfi bin Ali is haunted by nightmares of suffocating at the bottom of a well. In Libya, the radio from a passing car spurs rage in Majid Mokhtar Sasy al-Maghrebi, reminding him of the CIA prison where earsplitting music was just one assault to his senses. And then there is the despair of men who say they are no longer themselves. read more

Its founder president, Ashok Chauhan, was charged with fraud in the 1990s by authorities in Germany, where he ran a network of companies. He returned to India and was never extradited. A plastics company in the U.S. also sued Chauhan in 1995 for failing to pay $20 million in debts. "They are a subsidiary of a conglomerate of companies," said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of State College and Universities. "This is by no means reassuring, if you ask me." read more